BILL REQ. #:  H-4050.1 

Prefiled 01/08/10. Read first time 01/11/10.   Referred to Committee on Ecology & Parks.

     AN ACT Relating to eliminating duplication in federal and state greenhouse gas reporting requirements; amending RCW 70.94.151; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that new federal regulations requiring reporting of greenhouse gas emissions conflict with state rules. The legislature envisioned that once federal greenhouse gas reporting requirements were in place, the state provisions would be eliminated so that the employers of Washington did not have dual reporting requirements that place them at an economic disadvantage to out-of-state companies.
     Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature that companies that comply with the federal greenhouse gas reporting requirements do not have to submit different paperwork to the Washington state department of ecology or comply with any additional state requirements.

Sec. 2   RCW 70.94.151 and 2008 c 14 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The board of any activated authority or the department, may classify air contaminant sources, by ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation, which in its judgment may cause or contribute to air pollution, according to levels and types of emissions and other characteristics which cause or contribute to air pollution, and may require registration or reporting or both for any such class or classes. Classifications made pursuant to this section may be for application to the area of jurisdiction of such authority, or the state as a whole or to any designated area within the jurisdiction, and shall be made with special reference to effects on health, economic and social factors, and physical effects on property.
     (2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, any person operating or responsible for the operation of air contaminant sources of any class for which the ordinances, resolutions, rules or regulations of the department or board of the authority, require registration or reporting shall register therewith and make reports containing information as may be required by such department or board concerning location, size and height of contaminant outlets, processes employed, nature of the contaminant emission and such other information as is relevant to air pollution and available or reasonably capable of being assembled. In the case of emissions of greenhouse gases as defined in RCW 70.235.010 the department shall adopt rules requiring reporting of those emissions. The department or board may require that such registration or reporting be accompanied by a fee, and may determine the amount of such fee for such class or classes: PROVIDED, That the amount of the fee shall only be to compensate for the costs of administering such registration or reporting program which shall be defined as initial registration and annual or other periodic reports from the source owner providing information directly related to air pollution registration, on-site inspections necessary to verify compliance with registration requirements, data storage and retrieval systems necessary for support of the registration program, emission inventory reports and emission reduction credits computed from information provided by sources pursuant to registration program requirements, staff review, including engineering or other reliable analysis for accuracy and currentness, of information provided by sources pursuant to registration program requirements, clerical and other office support provided in direct furtherance of the registration program, and administrative support provided in directly carrying out the registration program: PROVIDED FURTHER, That any such registration made with either the board or the department shall preclude a further registration and reporting with any other board or the department, except that emissions of greenhouse gases as defined in RCW 70.235.010 must be reported as required under subsection (5) of this section.
     All registration program and reporting fees collected by the department shall be deposited in the air pollution control account. All registration program fees collected by the local air authorities shall be deposited in their respective treasuries.
     (3) If a registration or report has been filed for a grain warehouse or grain elevator as required under this section, registration, reporting, or a registration program fee shall not, after January 1, 1997, again be required under this section for the warehouse or elevator unless the capacity of the warehouse or elevator as listed as part of the license issued for the facility has been increased since the date the registration or reporting was last made. If the capacity of the warehouse or elevator listed as part of the license is increased, any registration or reporting required for the warehouse or elevator under this section must be made by the date the warehouse or elevator receives grain from the first harvest season that occurs after the increase in its capacity is listed in the license.
     This subsection does not apply to a grain warehouse or grain elevator if the warehouse or elevator handles more than ten million bushels of grain annually.
     (4) For the purposes of subsection (3) of this section:
     (a) A "grain warehouse" or "grain elevator" is an establishment classified in standard industrial classification (SIC) code 5153 for wholesale trade for which a license is required and includes, but is not limited to, such a licensed facility that also conducts cleaning operations for grain;
     (b) A "license" is a license issued by the department of agriculture licensing a facility as a grain warehouse or grain elevator under chapter 22.09 RCW or a license issued by the federal government licensing a facility as a grain warehouse or grain elevator for purposes similar to those of licensure for the facility under chapter 22.09 RCW; and
     (c) "Grain" means a grain or a pulse.
     (5)(a) The department shall adopt rules requiring the reporting of emissions of greenhouse gases as defined in RCW 70.235.010. The rules must include a de minimis amount of emissions below which reporting will not be required for both indirect and direct emissions. The rules must require that emissions of greenhouse gases resulting from the burning of fossil fuels be reported separately from emissions of greenhouse gases resulting from the burning of biomass. Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, the department shall, under the authority granted in subsection (1) of this section, adopt rules requiring any owner or operator: (i) Of a fleet of on-road motor vehicles that as a fleet emit at least twenty-five hundred metric tons of greenhouse gas annually in the state to report the emissions of greenhouse gases generated from or emitted by that fleet; or (ii) of a source or combination of sources that emit at least ten thousand metric tons of greenhouse gas annually in the state to report their total annual emissions of greenhouse gases. In calculating emissions of greenhouse gases for purposes of determining whether or not reporting is required, only direct emissions shall be included. For purposes of reporting emissions of greenhouse gases in chapter 14, Laws of 2008, "source" means any stationary source as defined in RCW 70.94.030, or mobile source used for transportation of people or cargo. The emissions of greenhouse gases must be reported as carbon dioxide equivalents. The rules must require that persons report 2009 emissions starting in 2010. The rules must establish an annual reporting schedule that takes into account the time needed to allow the owner or operator reporting emissions of greenhouse gases to gather the information needed and to verify the emissions being reported. However, in no event may reports be submitted later than October 31st of the year in which the report is due. The department may phase in the reporting requirements for sources or combinations of sources under (a)(ii) of this subsection until the reporting threshold is met, which must be met by January 1, 2012. The department may from time to time amend the rules to include other persons that emit less than the annual greenhouse gas emissions levels set out in this subsection if necessary to comply with any federal reporting requirements for emissions of greenhouse gases.
     (b) In its rules, the department may defer the reporting requirement under (a) of this subsection for emissions associated with interstate and international commercial aircraft, rail, truck, or marine vessels until (i) there is a federal requirement to report these emissions; or (ii) the department finds that there is a generally accepted reporting protocol for determining interstate emissions from these sources.
     (c) The department shall share any reporting information reported to it with the local air authority in which the owner or operator reporting under the rules adopted by the department operates.
     (d) Except for owners and operators required to report greenhouse gas emissions to the United States environmental protection agency under 40 C.F.R. Part 98, as adopted on September 22, 2009, the fee provisions in subsection (2) of this section apply to reporting of emissions of greenhouse gases. Owners and operators required to report under (a) of this subsection who fail to report or pay the fee required in subsection (2) of this section are subject to enforcement penalties under this chapter. The department shall enforce the reporting rule requirements unless it approves a local air authority's request to enforce the requirements for sources operating within the authority's jurisdiction.
     (e) The energy facility site evaluation council shall, simultaneously with the department, adopt rules that impose greenhouse gas reporting requirements in site certifications on owners or operators of a facility permitted by the energy facility site evaluation council. The greenhouse gas reporting requirements imposed by the energy facility site evaluation council must be the same as the greenhouse gas reporting requirements imposed by the department. The department shall share any information reported to it from facilities permitted by the energy facility site evaluation council with the council, including notice of a facility that has failed to report as required. The energy facility site evaluation council shall contract with the department to monitor the reporting requirements adopted under this section.
     (f) In developing its rules, the department shall, with the assistance of the department of transportation, identify a mechanism to report an aggregate estimate of the annual emissions of greenhouse gases generated from or emitted by otherwise unreported on-road motor vehicles.
     (g) The inclusion or failure to include any person, source, classes of persons or sources, or types of emissions of greenhouse gases into the department's rules for reporting under this section does not indicate whether such a person, source, or category is appropriate for inclusion in the multisector market-based system designed under RCW ((70.235.020)) 70.235.030.
     (h) Owners and operators who are required to report greenhouse gas emissions to the United States environmental protection agency under 40 C.F.R. Part 98, as adopted on September 22, 2009, may submit their report concurrently to the United States environmental protection agency and to the department to satisfy the reporting requirements under this section.
     (i) Should the federal government adopt rules sufficient to track progress toward the emissions reductions required by chapter 14, Laws of 2008 governing the reporting of greenhouse gases, the department shall amend its rules, as necessary, to seek consistency with the federal rules to ensure duplicate reporting is not required. Nothing in this section requires the department to increase the reporting threshold established in (a) of this subsection or otherwise require the department's rules be identical to the federal rules in scope.
     (((i))) (j) The definitions in RCW 70.235.010 apply throughout this subsection (5) unless the context clearly requires otherwise.